Many aid deliveries to Gaza are being rejected because of dual-use goods, groups say

A UN official said a truck carrying aid was turned over in Gaza this week contained scissors included in medical kits for children, drawing attention to what aid groups have said is a burdensome Israeli inspection process that is delaying crucial humanitarian aid.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main UN agency providing support to Palestinians in Gaza, said the truckload had been rejected because medical scissors had been added to a list of items classified by Israeli authorities as “dual use”. ‘ are considered, or have both. civil and military purposes.

COGAT, the Israeli agency that oversees aid deliveries to Gaza, accused Mr Lazzarini of lying, saying it was in constant contact with the United Nations and had not been informed of the denial. The agency said 1.5 percent of emergency trucks trying to enter the area were turned away.

Mr Lazzarini is the latest official to say that Israeli army inspections are preventing aid from reaching Gaza’s 2.2 million residents. Last week, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: said during a parliamentary debate that “too many” goods were rejected because they were dual-use, including items that are medically necessary.

A member of the British Parliament said this month that Israel had rejected 1,350 water filters and 2,560 solar lamps supplied by the British government because they were considered a threat.

Miriam Marmur, director of public advocacy at Gisha, an Israeli nonprofit that works to protect the free movement of Palestinians, said the Israeli list covers broad categories that could include thousands of items, making it difficult to know what is banned . Many items rejected are not explicitly listed, she said.

“This uncertainty follows years of uncertainty about what exactly qualifies as dual-use from Israel’s perspective, as well as when and how these items can be brought into Gaza,” she said.

Mr Lazzarini said it was crucial to speed up the release of supplies to Gaza. “The lives of 2 million people depend on it, there is no time to lose,” he wrote on social media.

Israel has maintained a list of dual-use items that require special permission to enter Gaza as part of its blockade of the enclave, which began years before the October 7 Hamas-led attack sparked the current war. For years, the list and approval process were hidden from public view. Israeli authorities only made the list public after a legal battle. according to Gishawho asked the court to request his release.

Support groups have said that a single item identified as dual-use can cause an entire truckload to be rejected, and groups sometimes are not told what the item was or why it was rejected.

COGAT has said that many of the trucks being turned away are repacked and brought in later, and that any bottleneck is a result of the aid groups’ ability to handle distribution, rather than Israeli restrictions.

In January, two U.S. senators visiting a border crossing between Egypt and Gaza said they saw a warehouse near the crossing filled with rejected items, including tents, oxygen concentrators, water testing kits, water filters, solar-powered refrigerators and used medical kits. for delivering babies.

Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, said after the trip that the Israeli inspections were necessary, but the delays they caused had unacceptable consequences.

“If it lasts a week when help is desperately needed, that means people are short of food, clean water and medical supplies,” he said in the Senate at the time.